Synopsis
In the sertão, a desert region in northern Brazil, the vengeful spirit of a bandit of honor prowls. Lampião, who died in 1938, took justice into his own hands in a region exacerbated by agrarian conflict. Following in his footsteps, we meet the men and women who today claim to be his heirs, resisting the fascist demons of Jair Bolsonaro. Choral and poetic, bordering on the mystical, No Man Is Born to Be Stepped On is a photographic and sound documentary that explores the subversive power of a ghost…
A word from Tënk
Photographs, stories, and sounds flood your senses. As you dive into this mystical world, tales of struggle collide and grow within you. They are anything but imaginary—here, the bullets are real. You are love, you are resistance, you are “landless,” a survivor of oppression, taking up arms. “For what purpose? To no longer be exploited,” I’d reply. Words fire through your mind, charged with the fierce spirit of Lampião, for you are fighting a class struggle. You know it… “the struggle must go on, but it’s hard.” The photography and soundtrack of this film will transport you into the heart of one of the world’s most significant landless workers’ movements, fighting for agrarian reform and land access in Brazil.
Éléonore Fédou
UX Designer for Tënk
